The UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals has released a “how-to guide to help generate prosperity and equality alongside clean power” by embedding equity and justice in the race to net-zero emissions. The report presents seven principles and five actionable recommendations to guide actions across critical energy transition mineral value chains.
Titled, ‘Resourcing the Energy Transition: Principles to Guide Critical Energy Transition Minerals Towards Equity and Justice,’ the report warns that the window is closing to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates cited in the report, demand for the critical minerals required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and enable a global energy transition will triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2040. With this come “tremendous opportunities, but also substantial challenges.”
While large- as well as small-scale mining has been linked with human rights abuses, environmental degradation, and conflict, the report notes that harnessing critical energy transition minerals has the potential to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty and provide access to affordable, modern, and sustainable energy.
According to the report, ‘critical energy transition minerals’ include: copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite, rare earth elements (REEs), and aluminum for electric vehicles and battery storage; silicon, cadmium, tellurium, and selenium for solar panels; copper for wind power; and copper, chromium, zinc, and aluminum for hydropower.
“Committed to intergenerational equity” and determined to “ensure past mistakes do not become the hallmarks of the future,” the report underscores the need for a new paradigm for resourcing the energy transition – one that is rooted in equity and justice.
Building on existing norms, commitments, and legal obligations in UN texts, the report formulates seven voluntary guiding principles:
- Human rights must be at the core of all mineral value chains.
- The integrity of the planet, its environment, and biodiversity must be safeguarded.
- Justice and equity must underpin mineral value chains.
- Development must be fostered through benefit-sharing, value addition, and economic diversification.
- Investments, finance, and trade must be responsible and fair.
- Transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption measures are necessary to ensure good governance.
- Multilateral and international cooperation must underpin global action and promote peace and security.
The Panel recommends embedding and maintaining these guiding principles across critical energy transition mineral value chains by leveraging the UN in the creation of key bodies and processes, including the establishment of:
- A High-Level Expert Advisory Group, to accelerate greater benefit-sharing, value addition, and economic diversification in critical energy transition mineral value chains as well as responsible and fair trade, investment, finance, and taxation;
- A global traceability, transparency, and accountability framework along the entire mineral value chain, to improve due diligence, promote corporate accountability, and build a global market for critical energy transition minerals, refraining from using the framework as a unilateral trade barrier;
- A Global Mining Legacy Fund, to build trust and address legacy issues resulting from derelict, ownerless, or abandoned mines, and strengthen financial assurance mechanisms for mine closure and rehabilitation;
- An initiative to empower artisanal and small-scale miners to become agents of transformation to foster development, environmental stewardship, and human rights; and
- Equitable targets and timelines for the implementation of material efficiency and circularity approaches across the entire life cycle of critical energy transition minerals.
The report was published on 11 September 2024. Per the Secretary-General’s instructions, the Co-Chairs and the Panel will consult and share the report and its recommendations with Member States and stakeholders ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, later this year. [Publication: Resourcing the Energy Transition: Principles to Guide Critical Energy Transition Minerals Towards Equity and Justice] [Publication Landing Page] [UN Press Release] [UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Establishment of Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals]
